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In the autumn sun outside the Imperial War Museum this week we celebrated a green milestone – Southwark now has 100,000 trees on council land, the first inner London borough to do this.
Our 100,000th tree is a Giant Redwood in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, with a plaque unveiled on Tuesday by our Mayor of Southwark Cllr Naima Ali.
I joined our Friends of Parks, community and environment groups, and councillors to reflect on how far we’ve come - building on the legacy of the great Ada Salter, who started by making Bermondsey a greener place.
Over the past five years, since I became council Leader, we’ve planted more than 30,000 trees—three times our original target. This includes more than 5,000 trees planted just this year.
We have an incredible 290 different species, from majestic mature trees to young hedges and even two new orchards. Each planting supports cleaner air, improved biodiversity, vital shade during hot summers, and can help reduce flood risk.
A huge thanks to all the volunteers, voluntary groups, schools, community groups, residents and our tree team whose hard work together has made this possible.
National Tree Week reminds us just how crucial trees are in tackling the climate emergency.
That’s why we’re not stopping here. We’ll continue planting and caring for our trees as we work towards our climate change goals.
Also this week – we reached our £500,000 target for green investment – for nature projects, more Libraries of Things and more - big thanks to all involved.
Cllr Kieron Williams
Leader of Southwark Council
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